


Night at the Haunted House

by ArivFroso, KagomeBenihime



Series: Treat for The Trickster [16]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-14
Updated: 2019-09-14
Packaged: 2020-10-18 10:51:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20637977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArivFroso/pseuds/ArivFroso, https://archiveofourown.org/users/KagomeBenihime/pseuds/KagomeBenihime
Summary: Sam glared at him ""Let's go hunt the Morton house," you said, "it's our Grand Canyon.""Dean sighed "Sam, I don't want to hear this.""You got two months left, Dean. Instead, Gabriel is gone, and we're gonna die tonight."





	Night at the Haunted House

They drove passed the Morton house slowly, looking around for police guards. The house was fenced off with warnings all over, but teenagers would be teenagers, and who knew what they'd see.

“Looks clear…” Sam said softly

Dean grunted and pulled the car out of sight. They headed to the door of the house.

Gabriel bounced along beside Sam. After their “heal-cation” as Gabriel had put it, they were all feeling much better. Gabriel had explained it, something about special locations or special items that can help with grace or… something… Sam hadn't understood much of it, but Gabriel was looking better.

Gabriel grabbed Dean and Sam's arms suddenly, looking at the house silently.

They saw it then, the light of flashlights moving around inside. Someone was in there.

Dean cursed, pulling out his gun. “Come on…”

They all rushed in, guns ready.

“Freeze! police officers! don't move!” Dean yelled.  
  
Sam followed. “All right. All right. All right. Take it easy, take it easy.”

Gabriel sighed softly but followed, trying to look like an angry cop.  
  
“Let's see some identification,” Dean demanded.  
  
“Come on. Let's see some i.d.,” Sam said  
  
“What -- are we under -- under arrest?” one of the people asked worriedly.  
  
“We're unarmed,” another said, hands up.  
  
“Oh, god. Oh, god,” the first one said, holding out his wallet.  
  
Dean took it “Want to explain that weirdo outfit, Mr., uh, Corbett?”  
  
“I know you,” the second guy said, looking at Dean in confusion.  
  
Dean smirked. “Yeah, sure you do. Give me some identification.”  
  
“Yeah, ho-- whoa, hold on a second. I know the both of you guys. Yeah,” the second guy said accusingly.  
  
“What?” the first asked.  
  
“Yeah,” the second said, “huh?”  
  
Sam stared. “Holy shit!"  
  
“What?” Dean asked  
  
“Uh, West Texas…” Sam said “The... the tulpa we had to take out. Those two goofballs that almost got us killed... The hellhounds or something?”

Dean sighed, “Fuck me.”

“Friends of yours?” Gabriel asked, but before Sam could answer, the second guy broke in.  
  
“Yeah, we're not hellhounds anymore, okay? It didn't test that well,” he said defensively  
  
“Ed, what's going on?” the first guy asked.  
  
“They're not cops, buddy,” Ed said, glaring at Dean. “No, not at all.”  
  
Dean nodded slowly, seeming to remember. “Ed, Ed, you had a partner, too, didn't you -- A different guy?”  
  
Ed nodded. “Oh, yeah, yeah.”  
  
Dean sighed. “Is he around here somewhere?”  
  
Ed shrugged. “He's running around,” he said evasively. “Chasing ghosts.”  
  
Dean sighed. “Okay, well, listen, you and Rambo need to get your girlfriends and get out of here.”  
  
Ed puffed up. “All right. Listen here, chisel chest, okay? We were here first. We've already set up base camp. We beat you.”  
  
Dean turned to Sam, sounding mock impressed, “They were here first.”  
  
Ed nodded proudly. “Mm hmm.”  
  
Dean grabbed Ed by the collar which made him squeak, “Oh, god.”  
  
“Ed…” Dean said softly  
  
“Yeah?” Ed managed in response  
  
“...Where's your partner?” Dean asked.  
  
There was a muffled sound in the distance, almost like gunshots but softer. They all glanced toward it before Dean continued.

"What are you doing in the Morton House, Ed? On leap year- what are you thinking?"

"We're here to spend the night, okay?" Ed said, motioning to the camera, "It's for our TV show."

"What?" Sam looked annoyed. "Great. Perfect."

"Yeah," Ed's friend said, "nobody's ever spent the night before."  
  
Dean rolled his eyes. "Uh, actually, yeah, they have." 

"Uh," Ed said mockingly, "we've never heard of them."

"Yeah, you know why? 'Cause the ones that have haven't lived to talk about it," Dean growled.

"Oh, come on," Ed said, exasperatedly. "I don't believe you."

"Look," Sam said, pulling papers from his bag, "missing-persons reports going back almost a half century. John Graham stayed on a dare -- gone. Julie Wilkerson -- gone. There are tons more. All of them came to just stay the night through, always on a leap year. The only body they ever found was the last owner, Freeman Daggett."

Ed took the papers to look over. "These look legit…" he said softly  
  
"That's because they are legit," Gabriel said, rolling his eyes slightly.

"Look, Ed," Sam said. "We ain't got much time here, buddy. Starting at midnight, your friends are going to die."  
  
Just then, Harry and two others ran down the stairs and into the living room.  
  
"Oh, my god! Oh, my god! Oh, my god! Oh, my god! Oh, my god! Guys! Guys! Oh, my god! Oh, my god!" Harry was babbling, eyes huge and so excited he didn't even seem to notice the newcomers. "We got one! Corbett! Corbett, we saw one! We saw one!"  
  
"Get outta here!" Ed shouted, whether excitement or worry about the Winchesters, they weren't sure.  
  
"It was a full apparition!" Harry continued, taking it for excitement. "It was like a class four. It was a spectral illumination! It…"  
  
"It was amazing!" The dark haired girl with them all but squealed.  
  
Harry, finally seeming to notice Sam and Dean, frowned. "Hey, aren't those the assholes from Texas?"  
  
Ed sighed, "Yes."  
  
"All right, let's have this reunion across the street, guys." Dean said gruffly  
  
Harry sighed. "Crap. What are you guys doing here?"  
  
"Come on, come on," Dean continued, trying to get them moving. "We'll get you ice cream. Our treat. What do you say? Let's go."  
  
Harry scoffed. "Yeah, I say no."  
  
The girl held out her laptop. "Look at this. Look, look. Ed, Ed. No. No. Look at this. Okay, honest-to-god proof, all right?"  
  
She showed the group their footage.  
  
"Are you kidding me?" Ed asked.  
  
Harry shook his head. "Yeah. No, not kidding."  
  
The skinnier kid with them looked at the others. "What kind of reading did we get?"  
  
Harry checked something. "Uh, it was a 10.9."  
  
"10.9?" Ed asked  
  
Harry nodded excitedly. "Yeah, it was 10.9. It was almost 11. I came out, and I was like, "what's going on?" And I was like -- wait, watch this. Oh! He got blasted. It was crazy."  
  
Sam and Dean walk away with Gabriel for a quiet word, not noticing one of the kids following them  
  
"Think we were off on this?" Sam asked "I mean, that was just a death echo."  
  
Dean nodded. "Yeah, but what's it doing here? Did anybody get shot here?"  
  
Sam shook his head. "No, not that I could find."  
  
"What's a death echo?" The kid asked, snapping Sam and Dean back to the group.  
  
"Look," Sam said, "we got a problem here. That ghost ain't it."  
  
"Yeah, that's real," Harry insisted. "Like, that happened."  
  
"What's a death echo?" The kid tried again.  
  
"Echoes are trapped in a loop, okay? They keep replaying how they died over and over and over again, usually in the place where they were ganked. It's about as dangerous as a scary movie."

"Kind of like a scratched record," Gabriel offered. "It wants to keep playing but can't, so it keeps replaying."  
  
"So maybe the echo's not dangerous," Sam said, "but maybe something else is."  
  
"You're right," Dean said. "All right, we need to get out of here, guys. Come on. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Pack it up."  
  
"Guys, time is running out!" Sam said, looking at his watch.  
  
"We're moving!" Dean snapped.  
  
"What about all of our equipment?" The girl asked. "What are we gonna…"  
  
"Lots of fun. Let's go," Dean urged  
  
"We got more material," Harry said. "We got all kinds of stuff. We'll make you guys recurring guest stars."  
  
"Wait! Wait!!" Ed said, skidding to a halt near the door. "Where's Corbett?"

Dean tried to keep getting them out but Ed held his ground.

"No man left behind," Ed said stubbornly before an anguished scream sounded in the distance.  
  
Ed's eyes widened. "That was Corbett."  
  
At almost the same time Harry yelled, "That was Corbett! Corbett!"  
  
The girl rushed down the hall. "Corbett! It's okay!"  
  
Sam and Dean tried to protest but Harry and Ed ran up the stairs with the girl. Surprisingly, Gabriel was in the lead.  
  
"We'll get him!" Gabriel yelled at them as he dashed off at inhuman speed. "Go back!"  
  
They didn't listen, they kept running, yelling in a jumble.

"No! where are you, dude?"  
  
"Tell us where you are!"  
  
"Corbett!"  
  
Ahead of them came another scream, "Let me go!! Guys!!!"  
  
"Corbett," Ed yelled. "You need to come back, Corbett."  
  
"No!!!!" Corbett screamed, then the screams faded.  
  
"Corbett's... He's not here." Sam panted as he caught up. "Let's go. Let's go."  
  
"No. No. No," Harry protested. "But that's Corbett. No, that was Corbett. Didn't you hear that?"  
  
"Corbett?" Ed called, looking around, worried.

"W-wait…" the girl said, looking around "Where's your friend?"

Sam looked around. _ Gabriel? Where are you? _

"Oh, god, what's happened? Oh, god. He's gone. He just disappeared," Ed said, starting to panic.  
  
"Okay, let's just go through all the angles," Harry suggested. "Let's go through all the cameras we have."

They tried to look through the footage, Gabriel hadn't answered other than a slight static noise, and a sense of reassurance, there was nothing, which wasn't helping Sam's anxiety  
  
"Well," Sam said, putting on his best bitch face "it's 12:04, Dean. You good? You happy?"  
  
Dean nodded, acting indifferent "Yeah, I am happy."  
  
Sam glared at him ""Let's go hunt the Morton house," you said, "it's our Grand Canyon.""  
  
Dean sighed "Sam, I don't want to hear this."  
  
"You got two months left, Dean. Instead, Gabriel is gone, and we're gonna die tonight." Sam picks up a chair and smashes it against front door.  
  
one of the guys with his camera jumped back from the splintered bits of chair "Whoa! what the hell is going on guys?"  
  
Sam turned on him "I'll tell you what's going on. Every door, every window, I'm guessing every exit out of this house -- they're all sealed."  
  
The guy looked around fearfully "But w-why are they sealed?"  
  
Dean sighed, the explaining thing had become Gabriel's job, and he liked it that way… "It's a supernatural lockdown, okay? Whatever took Corbett doesn't want us to leave, and it's no death echo. This is a bad mother, and it wants us scared."  
  
"Or it just wants us." The girl whimpered  
  
The sound of the EMF detector going off made them all jump.  
  
"Uh, guys," the other guy said "the camera's fritzing again."  
  
Ed grabbed the small device off the table "Whoa. Whoa. Guys, the EMF's starting to spike. This is a big one!"  
  
Sam was tensed "Everybody, stay close. There's something coming."  
  
Another apparition appears and everyone gasps  
  
"Is this the same echo you guys saw earlier?" Dean asked  
  
Harry shook his head "No, it's a different guy."  
  
Dean looked confused "Multiple echoes? What the hell's going on?"  
  
Sam shrugged "Beats me."  
  
Dean took a deep breath "Okay. All right. All right. All right." He steps forward and starts to yell at the apparition. "Uh, hey, buddy! Hey. Hey. Wake up. You're dead! Hello!"  
  
"What's he doing?" Harry asked, looking at Dean as if worried he'd gone insane "What's he doing?"  
  
Sam sighed "It's rare, but sometimes you can shock an echo out of its loop if you can talk to the part of the ghost that's still human, but usually you have to have some kind of connection to the deceased… Gabriel was pretty good at snapping them out but…"  
  
"Come on!" Dean shouted, exasperated "Wake up! Be dead!"  
  
The apparition flickers and turns around slowly.  
  
Harry looked around "You guys hear that?"  
  
"What's that sound?" Ed said at the same time  
  
"Snap out of it, buddy, huh? Come on," Dean coxed "what are you waiting for? You're gonzo! You're dead!"  
  
A bright light shone on the apparition and the sound of a loud horn approaching. The apparition suddenly flew backwards, as if hit by something large and invisible..  
  
Harry looked around. "Where the hell did it go?"  
  
"Finished it's loop…" Sam said. "Come on…"  
  
The group follow Sam and Dean down the hallway.  
  
"Dude, there's no records of any of this here," Dean said in exasperation. "No one got shot here. Obviously, no one got run over by a freaking train."  
  
"Stay close," Sam cautioned to the group, all still holding their cameras.  
  
"D-Did the echoes take Corbett?" The girl asked  
  
"Yes. No. I don't know," Dean growled. "We don't know what's doing what here; that's what we're trying to figure out, okay? Where's your Mojo boyfriend when we need him?!"  
  
Sam glared at Dean before trying to explain things a bit "All right, stay close. Okay, look, um, death echoes are ghosts, okay? Now, ghosts -- they usually haunt places where they lived or where they died."  
  
"Except these mooks didn't live or die here," Dean broke in.  
  
"Right," Sam said.

"So, what are they doing here?" one of the girls asked.  
  
"Hey, give the lady a cigar," Dean said sarcastically. "All right, seriously, does looking at this nightmare through that camera make you feel better or something? I mean…" 

She shifted the camera a bit. "Um...I, uh... Well, yeah. Uh, yeah. I think so."

Dean looked surprised. "Oh."

The group continued to walk through the house. They entered a room full of stuffed animal heads on the walls, as well as file cabinets.  
  
Sam held up a broken framed certificate. "Freeman Daggett, house's last owner, officially commended for 20 years of fine service at the Gamble General Hospital."  
  
Dean moved closer. "He was a doctor?"  
  
"Janitor," Sam corrected. 

"This looks like his den," Dean said, looking around. "When'd you say he died? '64?"  
  
Sam nodded. "Yeah, heart attack."  
  
The girl with the camera was filming a crate. "What are these, c-rations?"  
  
Dean moved over. "Yeah, army-issued, three squares- like a lifetime supply."  
  
She made a face. "God, is that all he ate?"  
  
Dean shrugged. "One-stop shopping." He moved on and found a safe. "Hello, locked." He got to work on getting it open.  


"Oh, come on, guys," Ed said, getting antsy with their investigating. "This is ridiculous. I mean, how the hell is this supposed to find Corbett, huh? We should be digging up the friggin' floorboards right now."  
  
Sam picked up a dusty pamphlet. "Huh. "Survival Under Atomic Attack." An optimist."  
  
There was a loud squeal and a bang as Dean pried the safe open. He began leafing through file box. "Crap. Crap. Taxidermy. Okay. You said Daggett was a hospital janitor?"  
  
Sam looked over, setting the pamphlet back down. "Yeah?"  
  
Dean made a face. "Ewww. Got three toe tags here… one, death by gunshots, train accident, and suicide."  
  
Sam made almost the same face. "Ewwwwww!" he agreed.  
  
Harry glanced between them. "What?"  
  
"Well, that explains why all the death echoes are here," Sam said. "They're here because their bodies are here… somewhere in the house?"  
  
"Daggett brought the remains home from the morgue. To _ play. _ " Dean said, as if the words left a bad taste in his mouth.  
  
"Ewwwwwwwwww!!!!! Ugh!!!!!" Harry and Ed said at the same time.

"That's nasty, dude," Spruce said, looking a little sick.  
  
Sam nodded. "Right."  
  
"Wait a minute," Dean said, counting heads. "We're down one." He held up his hand for everyone to stay put as he went to the next room.  
  
The girl with the camera startled herself by coming across her own reflection in a mirror. "Okay, Maggie," she said to herself, trying to steady her nerves. She swung the camera around, startled by Dean behind her.  
  
"Closer to the herd, okay?" Dean said.  
  
"Maggie? Maggie?" Harry asked, freaking out.  
  
"She's fine," Dean called, ushering her back.  


"Harry... Harry," Ed said urgently. "I got an 8.6 and climbing fast. Something huge is coming. Look. Something big is coming."  


Harry moved over to him to look too. "It's past 11, you guys!"  
  
"What? Nobody move! Hold on. Hold on. Stay quiet," Dean urged, looking around.

Maggie had the camera trained on Sam and Dean when suddenly Sam vanished.  
  
Ed rubbed his arms. "It's really cold in here."  
  
"Harry?" Maggie said, panicking, having just watched Sam disappear.  
  
Dean looked around, realizing his brother was no longer beside him. "Sam?" 

"Some kind of surge," Ed contemplated.  
  
"Sam?!" Dean called, louder.  
  
"Where'd he go?" Spruce asked, frightened.  
  
"Oh, no," Maggie said, still filming Dean as he picked up Sam's flashlight from the floor.  
  
"Sam!" Dean called again, loudly.

There was a few minutes of panic as the remaining group rushed through the house, calling and shouting.

"Sammy!!"

"Gabe!"

"Corbett! Sam!"

"Corbett! Talk to us!"

"Sam!"

"Corbett! Corbett!"

"Gabe!"

"Sam!!"  
  
"God," Maggie gasped out, starting to hyperventilate. "I am so scared. I'm so scared."  
  
Harry tried to comfort her. "It's gonna be okay. It's gonna be okay, Maggie."  
  
Spruce turned to find Maggie and Harry kissing. "Bom-chicka-bow-wow...whoa."  
  
Ed comes in from calling for Corbett and finds Maggie and Harry kissing.  
  
"My best friend…" Ed said softly. "And my best sister."  
  
"Ed," Harry said softly.  
  
"Harry," Ed said back, not so softly.  
  
"Ed," Harry said again. "Ed. listen, Ed."  
  
Harry glared at him. "Are you banging my sister?"  
  
Harry looked shocked. "No! No!"  
  
"Hold my glasses," Ed said, handing his glasses to Spruce.  
  
Spruce took them. "You got it."  
  
"Ed," Harry tried again.  
  
Ed lunged at Harry.  
  
"Guys!" Spruce cried out.  
  
"Get off Harry!" Maggie shouted.  
  
"What the fuck are you doing?!" Dean yelled, coming over and pushing the two apart. "Cut it out! We're down by three people." He moved passed them again, still calling for his brother.  
  
Maggie sighed, "Great."  
  
"Sorry," Harry mumbled.  
  
"I'm sorry," Ed said, moving back to Spruce. "Give me my glasses. Did he knock my… my tooth there?" He held his lip back and pointed.  
  
Spruce checked. "Uh, no."  
  
Ed nodded before whispering, "I won that, right?"  
  
"Yep. You're good," Spruce said.  
  
"Thanks, Spruce," Harry said dryly.  
  
Spruce shrugged. "Yeah, it's my fault."

Maggie threw up her hands in exasperation. "That's real great. That's nice. Thanks."

\---

"It's My Party" played in the background, but it was too dark to see well. Sam was tied to a chair at a table with cake and confetti.  


"Corbett. Corbett. Hey. Corbett, hey," Sam called over to where he was tied to another chair.  


"Sam?" Corbett asked groggily.  
  
"Corbett, hey, you got to keep listening to my voice, okay? I'm right here. Stay awake," Sam urged.  


"Don't listen," the ghost of Daggett soothed as he picked up a knife. "It stops hurting, so don't worry."  
  
"Corbett, stay with me," Sam said urgently. "Stay with me, you got it? I'm right here. Hey. Stay with me." Daggett drew closer to Corbett. "Don't. Don't!" Sam cried, but the ghost ignored him and stabbed Corbett through the throat. "No. Corbett! No! Corbett!" Sam struggled at the ropes, unable to do anything but watch.

\---  
  
"Corbett! Where'd you guys go?" Harry called again.  
  
"Where are you guys?" Maggie added weakly.  
  
Harry looked at Dean who was pacing the room and looking thoughtful "Dean, what are you doing?"  
  
Dean shook his head, trying to think "Okay, so Daggett was a cold war nut, okay? He was… he was an amateur taxidermist. He liked to slow dance with cadavers, and all he ate were c-rations, so what the hell are we looking for?!"  
  
"Horrible little life," Maggie said sadly.  
  
Dean nodded. "Yeah, a lonely life… A cold war life. He was scared. He was scared… he was scared." Suddenly, Dean turned to rush out of the room.  
  
"Scared of what?" Harry asked before Dean pushed past him. "What? Dean, where are you going?"  
  
"Wait," Maggie called, hurrying after them. "Don't leave me in here, you guys. Where are you going?"  
  
"Guys like Daggett back then, the ones who were really scared of the Russkies," Dean explained quickly as he continued to move. "They built bomb shelters. I'm guessing he's got one. I'll bet you it's in the basement."

Suddenly the door slammed behind Dean, leaving Harry, Ed, and Maggie on the other side.  
  
"Whoa!" Harry yelped.  
  
"That is not funny!" Ed yelled.  
  
"Um, who closed the door?" Spruce asked from next to Dean.  
  
"It did," Dean growled. "It wants to separate us. Ed! listen to me," he yelled through the door.  
  
"What?" Ed called back.  
  
"There's some salt in my duffel. Make a circle and get inside." Dean yelled  
  
There was a pause. "Inside?"  
  
"That's stupid," Harry said.  
  
"Inside your duffel bag?" Ed asked.  
  
"In the salt, you idiots!" Dean yelled sharply.  
  
"Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah," Ed said.

Dean continued on down the stairs, shaking his head. Spruce followed him with the camera.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" he asked softly.  
  
"What?" Dean replied, not even looking back.  


"Earlier, you and Sam… he said you had two months left?" He asked carefully.  
  
"Yeah, it's complicated. A while ago, Sam…" Dean started, then remembered the camera and where he was and who he was talking to. "No. No. No. I'm not gonna whine about my damn problems to some damn reality show. I'm gonna do my damn job."  
  
"Is it cancer?" Spruce persisted.  
  
Dean held a hand up. "Shut up. You hear that?"  
  
\---  
  
Daggett's ghost walked around the table toward Sam.

"Get away from me," Sam growled.

"This won't hurt a bit. It's ok. It's ok. Relax. Relax," he said as he strapped the party hat to Sam's head. "I've been waiting for some more friends. I get lonely. But you're coming to my party, aren't you?"  
  
\---  


"Is that music?" Spruce asked, listening hard.  
  
Dean moved forward. "Yeah, it's coming from behind this wall." He single handedly pushes a heavy cabinet away from the wall.  
  
"Wow, you're strong," Spruce said, mildly surprised.  
  
Dean flipped his middle finger to the camera.

\---

  
"You'll stay a good, long time," Daggett told Sam.  
  
Dean broke open the door to the bomb shelter, then. "Sam!" he shouted and shot Daggett's ghost. He moved forward to untie him. 

"Oh god," Spruce gasped. He was filming the whole birthday table, with the party guests of old corpses and one new one. "Oh, no, Corbett."

\---

Ed, Harry, and Maggie, are still in the salt ring, looking terrified.  
  
"Oh god," Ed said, shocked. "What have we done? Oh god."  
  
"Ed," Harry said softly. "Ed."  
  
"Yeah?" came the shaky reply  
  
"Corbett's a… he's a death echo. He's reliving his own murder," Harry whispered.  
  
"Over and over forever," Maggie said softly

"No," came a voice behind them, the three spun around in varying degrees of shock as Gabriel looked at them from his spot, leaning on the door frame. "Not forever."  
  
\---

"What's this Daggett guy's problem anyway?" Spruce asked angrily after he'd gotten passed the shock of Corbett being dead.  
  
"Loneliness," Sam said as Dean untied him.  
  
Dean scoffed. "What, he's never heard of a Realdoll?"  
  
Sam shook his head. "No, no, no, Daggett was the Norman Bates, stuff-your-mother kind of lonely. I mean, that's why he lifted these bodies from the morgue, threw himself a birthday party, except they were the only ones who would come. Anyway, so, at midnight, he sealed them in the bomb shelter and went upstairs and o.d.'d on horse tranqs."  
  
Dean looked at his brother, confused. "How do you know this?"  
  
Sam sighed. "'Cause he told me."  
  
Dean nodded, pulling out his shotgun. "Oh. yeah. Okay, so now that he's dead, what? Same song, different verse, trying to get people to come to his party?"  
  
"Pretty much, yeah. Stay forever," Sam said, looking around.  
  
"Are those real bullets?" Spruce asked.  
  
Dean looked at the gun, then at Spruce. "It's rock salt."

\---

"Where the heck have you been?" Maggie demanded. "You just disappeared like… like Corbett…" The group looked over to Corbett's death echo again.

Gabriel sighed "I got…" he shook his head "held up, I'll explain later."

"What do you… what do you mean, not forever?" Harry asked.

Ed stepped out of the salt ring.

"Ed, what are you doing?" Harry gasped, trying to catch his arm.

"Ed, don't!" Maggie pleaded.

"Guys, it's... it's Corbett. He's… he's... he's trapped. He's in a lot of pain, you know? We got to try and... we got to try and pull him out of his loop. We have to," Ed said, looking between them before settling on Harry, who still held his arm. "I gotta do it, Harry."

"I'm here." Gabriel said, "If something happens, I'll protect you."

Harry slowly let go and Ed turned to face the echo. "Corbett, listen to me. Okay, I'm not gonna hurt you. Listen. Listen. Oh, god. Corbett. Oh!" Corbett's image began to flicker and Ed backs up into the circle again. "Oh, god. Whoa. Oh, I can't, okay? He's not hearing me, okay? He won't stop dying."

\---

Dean slammed his shoulder into the door, attempting to break through the basement door that's still separating them from the others.  
  
Sam glanced at Spruce. "Seriously? You're still shooting?"  
  
Dean sighed. "It makes him feel better. Don't ask." He slammed into the door again.  
  
Spruce looked at his screen again as it flickered. "Ah, hell, guys." He looked up. "Get in your ghost-role thing. Something's coming."

Suddenly a ghostly hand grabbed Spruce and threw him to the ground. "Oh, my -- OH!!" Was all he got out before Daggett was rushing at him. Sam quickly shot him and he disappeared.  
  
\---  
  
"I...I know how we can get through to him." Harry said, watching Corbett die again.  
  
"How?" Ed asked bleakley, he was facing the wall, not wanting to see it anymore.  
  
Harry looked at him. "Ed... He had feelings for you."  
  
Ed blinked. "Huh?"  
  
"He wanted you." Harry tried to clarify.  
  
"Wa-wanted me to what?" Ed asks  
  
Harry looked uncomfortable. "You know…" He thrusts his hips once or twice. Ed still looked lost.

Gabriel sighed. "He wanted to be the Thelma to your Louise," he put in.

Ed's eyes widened slightly in understanding.

Harry nodded. "And you know what you've got to do. You can do it, Ed. You've always been the brave one." Ed started shaking his head, but Harry plowed on, "Yes, you can. You make us brave. Maggie, right?"  
  
Maggie nodded quickly. "Yeah. Yeah you do. You totally do."  
  
Harry took his shoulders and looked him in the eyes. "Ed...You got to go be gay for that poor, dead intern. You got to send him into the light."  


Gabriel smirked slightly.

  
Ed swallowed and approached the ghost of his friend.  
  
"Corbett," Ed said softly  
  
"Maggie, no. No," Harry said, catching her arm as she started to follow.  
  
Maggie shook her head. "It's okay."  
  
"Corbett, look. Hey, it's just Ed," Ed said. "Buddy. It's just me. Hey, hey, Corbett, listen to me. Listen to me. I -- we... Okay. You meant... Corbett, you meant a lot to the team. You meant... You meant a lot to me. You know, never back down...Never say a bad word, okay? I remember that, Corbett. I-I remember that. I remember because I love you, Corbett. I really, truly love you. Do you remember that? Do you?"  
  
Corbetts ghost seemed to shimmer slightly and he looked at his crush. "Hey. Ed?"  
  
"Yeah. Yeah, Corbett, it's…" Ed choked slightly before continuing. "Corbett, yeah, it's me. It's me. Look at me. You got to help us, man. you have to help us, Corbett. Please. Please. Please help us right now."  
  
\---

Sam helped Spruce up. "Take it easy. you all right?"  
  
Spruce nodded before looking at his camera again. "Uh, guys…"  
  
Daggett threw Dean, then Sam against the wall, before turning to Spruce.  
  
"This is bad. Very bad." Spruce whimpered as the ghost got closer, then the lights began to flicker and Corbett appeared behind Daggett, looking furious.  
  
"Corbett?" Spruce managed before Corbett's ghost attacked Daggett and there's a flash of light. When the light faded, both the ghosts were gone.  
  
Spruce looked at Dean and Sam as they get up. "You all right, dude?"  
  
"God," Sam groaned.  
  
Dean looks back at the camera, before covering the lens with his hand.

The basement door opened and the other three looked down at them before Gabriel pushed through them like he's parting the geek sea.

"You alright?" he asks worriedly.

Sam nodded. "Well, most of us…" He looked back toward the bunker where Corbett rested with the other bodies. He looked up at Gabriel again. _ Can you do it? I don't wanna push, I know you're still not 100 percent… _

Gabriel winked at him before sighing dramatically. "Good, now stop mentioning dad around me huh?"

"Where's Corbett?" Ed cut in quickly, looking around.

Sam nodded apologetically.

"Ed, trust me, you don't want to see," Dean said, trying to stop him from moving past him down the stairs.

"Th-there's a chance he's alive, right?" Maggie said, eyes tearful. "Ghosts can show up w-when people are in a coma… right?"

Gabriel smiled at Maggie, almost proudly, before moving past them. "I'll take care of this…"

Sam caught his hand as he passed, just for a moment, a silent thanks.

Ed started trying to push past Dean again, but Dean kept him there. "Why don't we go wait upstairs, huh? Gabe can handle it."

Maggie and Harry push past Dean quickly and rushed after Gabriel.

"Damn it," Dean growled. As he tried to catch them, Ed slipped out of his grip and ran after them. "Damn it!"

Sam shrugged and followed them at a slower pace.

"Corbett!" Maggie cried as they rushed in.

"No!" Harry gasped when they saw him slumped there, Gabriel was just pulling the ropes off.

Ed stopped in the doorway, eyes wide. "Oh, Cor…"

"I tried to tell you," Dean said, hanging back near the stairs.

Gabriel glanced at them as he picked Corbett's body up and laid him down on the floor to check him. "Okay… let's see…"

_ Let me know if you need any help, _ Sam thought halfheartedly.

Gabriel sighed and nodded. "I think I can get him back."

Harry gaped at him. "Seriously?"

"Thing is," Dean said, "you can't tell anyone it happened."

Gabriel took a deep breath and held out his hands. They glowed faintly but nothing seemed to happen.

Gabriel sighed softly, "Damn…" He looked up. "Sam."

Sam gently pushed past the group and knelt beside him. "Anything you need. _ Anything. _"

Gabriel sighed. _ Sorry… _

_ For what? _

_ For this being on camera. _Gabriel leaned up and kissed Sam deeply.

Sam's eyes slipped closed.

The light got brighter and Corbett jerked with a gasp.

Gabriel pulled back with a sigh, sagging slightly after the effort.

Sam caught his shoulders to support him.

Ed rushed forward and knelt down. "Corbett?"

Corbett sat up quickly, almost knocking heads with Ed. "The ghost!"

"Is taken care of," Gabriel said softly, patting Corbett's shoulder. "It's all over…"

A day or so later, after Corbett was released from the hospital, the Ghostfacers showed up at the Winchesters' hotel room and whisked all three off to their "base of operations" to view the episode they'd put together from the footage they'd got.

\---  
  
" _ Leap year, February 29th, the Morton House. A tragic day. A day of souls bound in torment, of lives held in cruel balance. But the Ghostfacers, they did the best that they could," Ed's voice played over footage of them all leaving. _

_ "We almost lost a beloved friend, but we gained new allies," Harry's voice said as Sam handed Ed a paper with their number. _

_ Ed and Harry sat in the living room from the start of the video. _

_ "We know this much," Ed said, "that every day, including today, is a new beginning. We learned more than we can say in the brutal feat of the Morton House." _ _  
  
_

_ "The Ghostfacers were forced to face something far more scary than ghosts," Harry said. "They were forced to face themselves." _ _  
_ _  
_ _ "War changes man," Ed said. _ _  
_ _  
_ _ "And Maggie," Harry added. _ _  
_ _  
_ _ "War changes man. And one woman…" Ed corrected. "You know Corbett, we just... ah gosh, we're just so glad you made it." _ _  
_ _  
_ _ Harry nodded. "As far as we're concerned, you're not an intern anymore. You have more than earned full Ghostfacer status. Although, it would have been cool to have a ghost on the team." _ _  
_ _  
_ _ "Yea," Ed agreed with a chuckle. "And here we were thinking that, you know, we were teaching you and all this time you were teaching us, about heart, about dedication, and about how gay love can pierce through the veil of death and save the day. Thank you." _

\---

"So, guys, what do you think? Are you alright?" Ed asked, turning to face them.  


"You know, I kind of think it was half-awesome," Dean admitted.  


"Half-awesome?" Maggie asked in disbelief. "That - that's full-on good, right?"  
  
"Yeah, um, I mean it's bizarre how you all are able to honor Corbett's near death experience while grossly exploiting the manner of it. Well done," Sam said, keeping their attention while Dean slipped something in a backpack under the table.  


"Yeah. It's a real tight rope you guys are walking there," Dean agreed once he was done.

"Nah, that's reality, man. Yeah, Corbett nearly gave his life searching for the truth," Ed said, glancing at Gabriel, too scared to talk about what really happened there at the end. "And it's our job over here to share it with the world."

"Right," Sam said, shifting awkwardly. "Well, um, our experience, you know what you get when you show the world the truth?"  
  
"A straitjacket," Dean cut in before they could answer. "Or a punch in the face."

"Sometimes both." Gabriel piped in.  
  
"Right." 

"Oh come on, guys," Harry said. "Don't be 'facer haters' just because we happen to have gotten the footage of the century."

"Oh yeah," Ed agreed.  
  
Dean shrugged. "You got us there."  
  
"Yeah," Sam said helpfully.  
  
Dean rolled his eyes at Sam's lackluster performance. "Yeah, well we'll see you guys around."  
  
"Peace out," Spruce said with a wave.

The three of them filed out and moved toward the impala.

"We clear?" Sam asked.

"Nooooooo!!!!!!" They could hear Ed wailing. "Are you kidding me?!"  
  
Dean grinned. "Electromagnet wiped out every tape and hard drive that they have."  
  
Sam smiled as he got in the car. "The world just isn't ready for the Ghostfacers."  
  
"It's too bad," Dean said as he got in. "I kinda liked the show."  
  
Sam smiled at Gabriel, who had gotten in the back. "It had its moments."

Gabriel grinned back before looking at the sky innocently as he spun a burned DVD on his finger.

Sam grinned back. _ You sticky fingered angel… _

_ What can I say? _ Gabriel winked. _ It was a great kiss. _


End file.
